Clivia miniata - Kaffir Lilly

Clivia miniata - Kaffir Lilly

There is a garden up the road from here (on the Main Rd towards 

Willunga) with old Olive trees underplanted with a collar of gorgeous orange flowering Clivia miniata – the orange flowering variety. It looks spectacular every year – such bright colour in the shady gloom under the trees.

These days Clivia’s also come in a yellow flowering form – more a rich cream then intense yellow, but stunning in its own right.

So, we are celebrating Clivias’ this week at Fern Forest! The shiny dark green leaves are attractive on their own, and they are actually quite tough, enjoying the shade and dryer soil you find under established trees.

Clivia’s – named after ‘Clive of India’ and also called Kaffir lilies in their native South Africa, are fabulous pots plants as well. Their clumping habit means they will need potting on separation eventually, but they are relatively slow growing and resilient, so can be kept in a pot for many years, enjoying a spell inside during flowering and being returned to their shady homes outside for the rest of the year.  

Bird of Paradise - Strelizia

Beautiful Bird of Paradise - perfectly suited to South Australia

Strelizia reginae

The original colored Bird of Paradise

  

The origin of this gorgeous plant is South Africa. It was first introduced to Europe in 1773, when it was grown at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Since then, it has been widely introduced around the world, including the Americas and Australia.

This evergreen beauty has a vase shape and can reach up to 1.5m x 1.5m. But don’t worry, there is a range of  dwarf varieties available on the market for  small gardens !

Strelitzias became popular all over the world because of their toughness and ability to grow well in any area that is sunny, warm and of course full of love! There are just a few simple steps to show your love to the Bird of Paradise, first of all keep the soil moist – water well during the summer,less once well established. Give it a good fertilizer for better flowering – strelitzias will be more than happy with a good, well rotted compost and fertilizer with high Nitrogen just before its flowering season -April to November. And the last important step – ‘haircut’! If you think the only ‘creatures’ who can benefit from the services of the beauty salons are human – you are completely wrong! Your Strelitzia plant will love a good haircut after the flowers have finished – so hack away!

New! Yellow flowered Bird of Paradise 'Mandela Gold'